and as
the event had so far succeeded to his wish, the ruling party had
greater reason than ever to apprehend the future consequences of his
pretensions.

* Stowe, p. 388, 389. Holing, p. 633.

** Grafton, p. 612.

*** Hall, fol. 160.

**** Hist. Croyland, Contin.p. 526.

***** Rymer, vol. xi p. 275.

****** Cotton, p. 661.

At the same time they heard that he intended to return from Ireland;
and fearing that he meant to bring an armed force along with him, they
issued orders, in the king's name, for opposing him, and for debarring
him entrance into England.[*] But the duke refuted his enemies by coming
attended with no more than his ordinary retinue: the precautions of the
ministers served only to show him their jealousy and malignity against
him: he was sensible that his title, by being dangerous to the king,
was also become dangerous to himself: he now saw the impossibility of
remaining in his present situation, and the necessity of proceeding
forward in support of his claim. His partisans, therefore, were
instructed to maintain, in all companies, his right by succession, and
by the established laws and constitution of the kingdom: these questions
became every day more and more the subject of conversation: the minds
of men were insensibly sharpened against each other by disputes, before
they came to more dangerous extremities: and various topics were pleaded
in support of the pretensions of each party.

* Stowe, p, 394.

The partisans of the house of Lancaster maintained that, though the
elevation of Henry IV. might at first be deemed somewhat irregular, and
could not be justified by any of those principles on which that prince
chose to rest his title, it was yet founded on general consent, was a
national act, and was derived from the voluntary approbation of a free
people, who, being loosened from their allegiance by the tyranny of the
preceding government, were moved by gratitude, as well as by a sense
of public interest, to intrust the sceptre into the hands of their
deliverer: that, even if that establishment were allowed to be at first
invalid, it had acquired solidity by time; the only principle which
ultimately gives authority to government, and removes those scruples
which the irregular steps attending almost all revolutions, naturally
excite in the minds of the people: that the right of succession was a
rule admitted only for general good, and for the maintenan